This invention relates to improvements in an apparatus for pressing workpieces of absorbent material and particularly to improvements in the invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,520 issued to Stefan Simon on Nov. 5, 1974 which patent is based on German application 2114530, filed in Germany on Mar. 25, 1971, and is referred to herein as "the main patent" and incorporated by reference.
The main patent relates to an apparatus for pressing workpieces of an absorbent material, particularly tampons for feminine hygiene, comprising an endless feeding device conveying the workpieces before open sides of a pre-shaping device and by means of at least one push-rod into said pre-shaping device; a transmitting device for transmitting the pre-shaped workpieces from the pre-shaping device to a pressing device and an ejecting device for ejecting the pressed workpieces from the pressing device, said pre-shaping device consisting of a number of pre-shaping jaws with opposite pre-shape counterholding jaws and said pressing device consisting of a number of pressing jaws with opposite counterholding jaws, the pressing jaws and the counterholding jaws comprising a substantially L-shaped working surface and the end of the short leg of each working surface lying against the long leg of the opposite working surface and the short legs of associated working surfaces being provided with oppositely disposed recesses such that in the closed position they form an approximately cylindrical cavity.
The main patent is based on the object to improve such an apparatus to the effect that it is particularly suitable for parallel operation and that the pressing process can be subdivided in such a way that the individual forces to be applied in a pre-shaping stage and a subsequent pressing stage can nevertheless be controlled with respect to magnitude and direction.
This problem is solved according to the main patent in that the pre-shaping jaws with associated pre-shape counterholding jaws and the pressing jaws with associated counterholding jaws are arranged about horizontally and that the number of jaws of the pressing device is equal to that of the pre-shaping device, the spaces formed by the jaws of the pressing device being disposed approximately in alignment with the spaces formed by the jaws of the pre-shaping device at the open sides of the pre-shaping device directed away from the feeding device, while the transmitting device consists of push-rods positioned on the same side as the feeding device.